Rose Byrne shared the steps taken on the set of “Insidious” to prevent then-child star Ty Simpkins from being “traumatized” by the horror movie’s demon.
The actress recalled the behind-the-scenes tidbit during her Thursday appearance on “Hot Ones,” where she revealed she, Ty and the actor who played the terrifying Lipstick-Face Demon all got ready in the same trailer “to try to make it normal.”
“There was a really scary character that was a demon. And there was a little boy in the movie, this lovely actor, Ty, and he was only 10 or something,” Byrne told host Sean Evans. “And we would get ready — me, Ty and the demon — all together in the trailer. So the demon [Joseph Bishara], who’s so sweet, would come in and be like, ‘Hi.’”
Per Byrne, they would all sit together as Bishara transformed into the iconic horror movie villain, including red paint, black eyes, fangs and a “crazy” latex outfit.
“But we would all be there to try to make it normal, you know, so this little Ty wouldn’t like, get traumatized,” she added, “and have haunting dreams for the rest of his life.”
Byrne applauded production’s decision to have them all get ready together, calling it “a good trick” and “a good thing to do,” given how bone-chilling the plot was.
“That was really scary and that character is really scary in the movie,” she noted. “[Director] James Wan knows what he’s doing.”
“Insidious” follows a family as they realize their new dream home is actually a nightmare, given their son has fallen into a coma and they are forced to protect him from evil spirits that are trying to possess him.
In addition to Byrne and Simpkins, the film stars Patrick Wilson, Barbara Hershey, Lin Shaye, Angus Sampson, Leigh Whannell and Bishara.
“Insidious” had four followup films, including “Insidious: Chapter 2,” “Insidious: Chapter 3,” “Insidious: The Last Key” and “Insidious: The Red Door.”
Watch Byrne’s full “Hot Ones” interview above.
